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19 Jun Chris di Pasquale The debate on the left sparked by Emma Norton’s recent comment piece in Red Flag about establishing safe access zones around abortion clinics exposed a worrying trend among some of Norton’s critics. Norton argued that the left must oppose moves by governments to criminalise anti-choice big...CONTINUE READING

12 Jun Emma Norton Abortion laws in Australia are worse than you think. The procedure is still in the criminal code in NSW and Queensland. A woman seeking an abortion in NSW needs a doctor to say that the pregnancy threatens her health or wellbeing. In South Australia, she needs two doctors to believe that i...CONTINUE READING

04 Jun Jorge Jorquera The notion of lifelong learning is now ubiquitous. In the Golden Age of capitalism – the decades following the Second World War – middle class dreams were couched in terms of material gain, mid-life affluence and early retirement. Today, middle class illusions rest on the promises of educa...CONTINUE READING

21 May Ben Hillier I’m supposed to write about the wedding of prince Harry and Meghan Markle being a disgusting display of opulence by a bludging waste-of-space family whose titles are both affronting and anachronistic. It was. They are. Yet I am caught up in it. For a brief escape from the small agonies of...CONTINUE READING

21 May Tess Lewis Israel’s winning entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, “Toy” by Netta Barzilai, has been hailed by the media for having a powerful anti-bullying message, celebrating diversity and women’s empowerment and capturing the #MeToo movement. The ABC’s live blog of the competition raved ab...CONTINUE READING

08 May Simone White Who gives a fuck about the world? Lots of people, it turns out. According to a World Economic Forum survey of 32,000 18-35-year-olds across 186 countries, the top four concerns are climate change, wars, income inequality and poverty. Extensive surveying by Roy Morgan finds that people cons...CONTINUE READING

08 May Sandra Bloodworth The Oxford Dictionary declared “post-truth” the word of the year in 2016, with the explanation: “it describes not just particular assertions, but a general characteristic of our age”. Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was widely thought to embody this new age. And now, it seems his pres...CONTINUE READING

10 Apr Diane Fieldes Twenty years ago, on 7 April 1998, Patrick Stevedores dismissed and locked out all 1,400 of its unionised waterside workforce, triggering mass protests and picketing around the country. In the dead of night, balaclava-wearing scabs with German shepherds and rottweilers entered the docks, c...CONTINUE READING

10 Apr Kim Stern “ANU prides itself on the principle of academic freedom and I am always proud to see our students standing up for issues they feel strongly about. I am disappointed this happened, and everyone has learned from it.” Brian Schmidt, vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, let g...CONTINUE READING